Rotary catcher system for sorting lemons



Oct. 13, 1 959 1.. A. KAUFMAN 2,903,388

ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR sommc; LEMONS Filed Oct. 10, 1955 -5 Sheets-Sheet l as w /z 86 o a9 @1 107 I08 m9 iv v I J H Fi i I INVENTOR A.Kaufnmn WWW ATTORNEYS L. A. KAUFMAN ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR SORTING LEMONS Oct. 13, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 10, 1955 INVENTOR Lloyd A-Kauf'mn WWW ATTORNEYS Oct. 13, 1959 L. A. KAUFMAN 2,908,388

ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR SORTING LEMONS Filed Oct. 10, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Lloyd A.Kauf'man ATTORNEYS Oct. 13, 1959 L. A. KAUFMAN ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR SORTING LEMONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 10, 1955 INVENTOR Llo yd A.Kaufmu BY M ATTORNEYS Oct. 13, 1959 L. A. KAUFMAN ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR SORTING LEMONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 10, 1955 I INVENTOR Llcv d A.Ka.uf'ma n BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent OfiFice 2,908,388 Patented Oct. 13, 195? ROTARY CATCHER SYSTEM FOR SORTING LEMONS Lloyd A. Kaufman, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to Mandi-cl Industries, Inc., a corporation of Michigan The present invention relates to improvements in the sorting of discrete articles and especially to providing catcher conveyor means for sorters of the free-fall type.

An object of the invention is to provide a high speed catcher system for receiving articles falling through a viewing chamber in a free-fall gravity type of sorting machine and distributing the articles among a plurality of diflferent lanes according to the response produced by the articles in the viewing chamber.

A further object of the invention is to enable articles to be sorted, distributed and conveyed very rapidly without danger of injury to the articles and without permitting inaccurate classification of articles.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved high speed trip pan type of conveyor.

Still another object of the invention is' to provide improved means for accurately and rapidly releasing drop bottoms of trip pans in response to signal eifect produced by a photoelectric sorting head. a 7

Still another object is to provide improved means for closing and cocking the drop bottoms for rapid response to a subsequent signal from the photoelectric sorting head.

Still another object is to prevent spurious release of the drop bottoms and to cushion the opening of each drop bottom to prevent efiect on the adjacent trip pan.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In carrying out the invention in accordance with a preferred form thereof, in the sorting of fragile articles, such as lemons, for example, several different types of conveyors are employed for bringing the lemons from a receiving area to the viewing chamber associated with a photoelectric sorting head and to a classifying conveyor, and to a conveyor which carries the articles, such as lemons, away from the classifying conveyor in a plurality of different lanes according to classes in which they have been sorted.

A walking board type of conveyor may be employed for conveying the lemons in a plurality of parallel rows from the receiving area to an intermediate gate before depositing the lemons in accurately timedrelationship upon receiving pans of the type described more fully in the copending application of Lloyd Kaufman, Serial No. 561,390 filed December 13, 1955, and now abandoned, and generally similar in principle of operation to' the receiving pans of the mating pan conveyor described in the co-pending application of Michael C. Hoover, Lloyd Kaufman, and Floyd S. Smith, Serial No. 461,072, filed October 8, 1954.

From the mating pan conveyor the articles are dropped, also in accurately timed relationship to the functioning of the photoelectric sorting head, into the top of a viewing chamber including a lamp housing and a photoelectric sorting head, which do not constitute a part of the present invention, which is arranged to make a response photoelectrically to the reflectivity or the color of the articles falling through the chamber and to produce an electrical signal in suitable deferred timing according to the classification into which the particular article is to be sorted.

Below the viewing chamber a rotary trip pan or catcher pan conveyor is provided comprising a rotary wheel or hub having a plurality of pans mounted at the periphery thereof so as to travel in succession under the viewing chamber for receiving the articles one at a time in succession as they fall through the viewing chamber and are deposited separately, or each article in a separate catcher pan. 7

The catcher pans are in the form of trip pans with a roughly quadrilateral top opening bounded by two straight or arcuate lines and two radii extending from the axis of revolution of the wheel carrying the catcher pans.

The pans have sloping front and rear walls and side walls with top edges parallel to arcs of circles concentric with the pan carrying wheel. The rear wall of the'pan, that is the wall which is to the rear considering the direction of motion of the pan as it is revolved by the rotation of the supporting Wheel, is divided into an upper portion forming a fixed part of the pan, and a lower portion con stituting a sloping drop bottom or tripping lower gate secured at its upper end to a shaft which is mounted in bearings carried by the pan wall at the outer end and the wheel itself at the inner end. The drop bottom supporting shaft is radial with respect to the rotating wall. Tripping magnets carrying retractable trip pins are provided which act in response to delayed electrical impulses produced by the photoelectric sorting head. The delayed control of the tripping magnets does not constitute a part of the present invention but is described in the co-pending applications of DavidC. Cox, Serial No. 294,427,

filed June 19, 1952, now Patent No. 2,833,937, and Serial No. 377,942, filed September 1, 1953, now abandoned, assigned to the same assignee as the present application. Tripping arms are mounted on the wheel at the inner side of the catcher pans for cooperation with the magnet operated trip pins so that the pan bottom will be released and the pan opened to release an object of a given classification at a predetermined angular position of the rotating wheel at a fixed time lag after the object has fallen through the viewing chamber. The time lag and, therefore, the angular position of the wheel at which the drop bottom opens to release the article is determined by the response which the article has given to the photoelectric sorter when falling through the viewing chamber. The particular electrical mechanism and photoelectric system for accomplishing this delay and actuation of the electromagnets does not constitute a part of the present invention. However, this portion of the apparatus may be similar to that described in the aforesaid co-pending application of Kaufman, Hoover and Smith, Serial No. 461,072.

For rendering the opening of the catcher pans more effectively responsive to the retraction or lack of retraction of the trip pins carried by the tripping electromagnets, latches and latch cams are provided. The latch cams, one for each of the catcher pans, are each secured to the shaft supporting the drop bottom of the corresponding catcher pan and include a projecting cocking arm and a spiral cam surface with an abrupt radial or detent portion adapted to cooperate with a detent formed in a' pivoted latch for locking the cam and the shaft in the position in which the drop bottom of the pan is lifted and the pan is closed. The latches are provided with springs resiliently biasing them to the position locking the cams and are provided with radially extending trip arms which cooperate with the solenoid operated trip pins. An arcuate cocking cam is provided which extends partially along a circle, spaced the same radial distance from the center of rotation of the rotating wheel as the cocking arms of the latch cams, and has a sloping surface for cooperating with cocking arms extending from the junction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a free-fall or gravity type of sorting apparatus constructed in accordance w1th the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of a section of the apparatus represented as cut by a horizontal plane 22 indicated in Fig.

1, with some portions of the apparatus broken away and others represented diagrammatically to expose a plan View of the rotary catcher wheel;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the portion of the apparatus illustrated in. Fig. 2, showing the rotary catcher, and partially broken away and in section to expose a portion of the tripping, latching and cocking mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a section of the apparatus represented as cut by a vertical radial plane 4-4 through the center line of a pan bottom supporting shaft as indicated in Fig. 2 and illustrating a tripping magnet and associated tripping mechanism, together with a pan bottom shock absorber and a trip pan, partially in section;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the apparatus, looking inward, partially in section, represented as cut by a vertical plane, perpendicular to one of the pan-bottom supporting shafts;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary outward radial view of a portion of the apparatus including a latch, and latch cam in the cocked position;

Fig. 7 is a corresponding view with the latch cam in tripped position;

Fig. 8 is a developed view of the cocking cam;

Fig. 9 is an elevation illustrating one of the drop bottoms in open position;

Fig. 10 is a side view thereof as seen from the center of the apparatus;

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram representing, in elevation, a side view of the walking board conveyor fragmentarily, the intermediate gate, and the shaft connections from the power drive of the apparatus;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram representing, in elevation, the mechanism for interconnecting the drive shaft of'the apparatus and the walking board conveyor mechanism for supplying articles to be sorted to the system;

Fig. 13 is a plan view of the shaft connections of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a detail view of the clutch employed; and

Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of Fig. 14 represented as cut by a plane 1515 indicated in Fig. 14.

Like reference characters are utilized throughout the drawing to designate like parts.

The form of apparatus. illustrated in Fig. 1, comprises a walking board conveyor 11, a mating pan conveyor 12 with an intermediate gate, not visible in Fig. 1, between the walking board conveyor 11 and the mating pan conveyor 12, a viewing chamber 13 including a lamp housing and photoelectric sorting head or inspection device, not visible, a rotary catcher 14 comprising a plurality of trip pans, a plurality of delivery chutes, in this case five chutes,

15, 16, 17, 18, 19, with an output conveyor, not shown,

carrying away articles delivered by the chutes 15 to 19, suitable supporting framework and drive mechanism within the housing 21. I

The walking board conveyor 11, the intermediate gate, the mating pan conveyor 12, and the viewing chamber 13 are preferably of the type disclosed in the aforesaid Kaufman application, although they may be arranged generally as described in the aforesaid Hoover, Kaufman and Smith application, Serial No. 461,072. However, in order to enable fragile articles such as lemons to be classified and received in the catcher system and delivered 4 to the output conveyor belts at a high rate of speed, a rotary catcher system is preferably employed.

The rotary catcher system 14, illustrated in greater detail in Figs. 2 and 3, comprises a plurality of trip pans or catcher pans 22 arranged around the rim 23 of a spoked wheel 24, carried by a drive shaft 25, connected in a suitable manner to the drive mechanism. in the housing 21, which is driven in a suitable manner by an electric motor.

As best shown in Fig. 2, each of the catcher pans 22 has an approximately quadrilateral top outline with radial sides 26 and 27, an inner side 28 and an outer side 29. The sides 28 and 29 constitute arcs of circles concentric with the supporting and drive shaft 25. The side 28 is the top edge of a sloping inner wall 30, and the side 29 is the top edge of a vertical outer wall 31. As indicated by the arrow A the apparatus is designed for counterclockwise rotation of the shaft 25 and the wheel 24 as viewed from above. The side 26 of the top outline of the pan 22 constitutes the top edge of the sloping front wall 32 and the side 27 constitutes the top edge of the rear 'wall 33, shown most clearly in Fig. 5. The rear wall 33 extends downward a relatively short distance. A sloping hinged continuation thereof is provided comprising a drop bottom 34.

Each of the drop bottoms 34 is carried by a shaft 35 extending radially with respect to the rotation axis of the wheel 24 and the shaft 25, and is carried in a pair of plastic nylon bearings consisting of an outer bearing 36 mounted in the outer pan wall 31 and an inner bearing 37 mounted in the wheel rim 23. The pan bottom 34 is rigidly secured to its supporting shaft 35 and the support shaft 35 carries an arm 38 rigidly secured thereto for supporting one end of a bias spring 39, secured at its other end to a pin 41 secured to the wheel rim 23, resiliently biasing the pan bottom 34 to open or released position.

In the lower end of the arm 38 is secured a resilient stop bumper 42 composed of suitable resilient material such as rubber, for example, in the shape of a cup with a button head 43 adapted to slip through a suitable opening in the lower end of the arm 38 for holding the rubber stop bumper 42. The stop bumper 42 has a metering orifice 44 therein. The angular relationship between the arm 38 and the drop bottom 34 is such that when the drop bottom 34 is released and is pulled downward to the open position by gravity and the spring 39, the stop bumper 42, striking the front wall 32 of the adjacent trip pan, prevents the drop bottom 34 from striking so vigorously under one spring force as to bounce against a lemon which has been released before it can clear the system. The size of the metering orifice 44 is so chosen in relation to the other factors that the drop bottom is held in the back position long enough to avoid interference.

The outer wall 31 of the pan 22, illustrated in Fig. 3, has an opening 46 bounded by a lower curved edge 47 of the wall 31, and the pan bottom 34 is formed with a curved fin or wing portion 48 to close the opening 46 in the outer pan wall 31, when the pan. bottom 34 is in the upper or closed position. In this manner an article, such as a lemon49, which is carried in one of the pans 22 is very rapidly released when the pan bottom 34 is opened since the removal of a portion of the side wall of the pan against which the lemon 49 may be urged by centrifugal force removes any tendency for the lemon 49 to beheld in the pan 22 after the drop bottom 34 has been lowered.

As illustrated in Fig. 5 the walls of each pan 22, in cluding the drop bottom 34, are lined with pads 50 of polyurethane foam material, having a smooth, protective latex skin, for cushioning the fall of the lemon or other fragile article 49 into the trip pan from the viewing chamber 13, and particularly for avoiding bouncing thereof which might cause the article 49 to bounceout of onepan and fall back into the next, or fall out into one of the chutes 15--19 during the rotation of the catcher pan system 14: Similar cushioning and bouncepreventing low coefficient of restitution pads are employed to line the chutes 15 to 19 and the pans in the mating pan conveyor 12.

For normally holding the pan bottoms B4 upward in the closed position, illustrated in Fig. 5, and for tripping the pan bottoms in response to signals from the photoelectric inspection device in the viewing chamber 13, cocking and tripping mechanism is provided comprising a latch cam 51 and a latch 52. The latch cam 51 includes a cocking arm 53 and has a cam surface 54 of spiral shape ending in an abruptly dropping radial portion or locking abutment 55 cooperating with the latch 52. The latch cam 51 is pinned to the supporting shaft 35 of the pan bottom 34 so that the latch cam 51 and the cocking ;arm 53 rotate with the pan bottom supporting shaft 35.

The latch 52 is pivotally mounted upon a pivot pin 56 secured in the inner surface of the wheel rim 23, and includes a trip arm 57 extending diagonally in a generally upward and backward direction with respect to the direction of rotation of the wheel rim 23, and a detent 58 adapted to cooperate with the locking abutment 55 of the latch cam 51.

.A biasing spring 59 is provided, connected at one end to an ear 61 formed in the latch 52 and secured at the other end to a screw eye 62, mounted in the flange 63 at the lower edge of the wheel rim 23.

For each of the trip pans and associated with the pan body supporting shaft 35 thereof, there is a tripping and cocking mechanism, such as described, including the latch cam 51 and the latch 52. For cooperating with the tripping arms 57, a plurality of trip pins are provided, angularly spaced upon a suitable arcuate frame 64 secured to the stationary framework of the apparatus. The spacing angle of the trip pins equals the spacing angle between the trip pans 22. The last of the trip pins 65 is stationary and fixed in the path of the tripping arms 57 to make sure that all of the pans are tripped before they reach a cooking station indicated at the section line 6-6 in Fig. 2. The stationary trip pin 65 is supported by a bracket 66 on the frame 64.

The remaining trip pins, in this case four, in advance of the stationary trip pin 65, consist of retractable trip pins 67, such as illustrated in greater detail in Fig. 4, each carried by an arm 68 pivoted on a pin 69 carried by the stationary framework of the apparatus, including the mounting frame 64, and carrying an armature 71 cooperating with an electromagnet, or solenoid 72. Preferably a biasing spring 73 is provided for holding the trip pin 67 in the path of the trip arm 57, except when the armature 71 is retracted by energization of the solenoid 72.

Each of the electromagnets 72 has a pair of electrical input'leads 74 connected through cable, not shown, to a source of current in the photoelectric inspection apparatus associated with the viewing chamber 1 3, for maintaining the solenoid 72 normally energized and the trip pin 67 retracted.

In the event of an article falling through the viewing chamber 13, having predetermined color reflectivity characteristics for classifying it into one of the classes represented by one of the chutes 15 to 18, the photoelectric inspection apparatus breaks the circuit and de-energizes the electromagnet 72 at a predetermined time delay, depending upon the time required for the object to fall from the viewing chamber 13 into the trip pan 22 immediately thereunder, and to travel to a point above the proper one of the chutes 15 to 18. The photoelectric arrangement and the delay mechanism are of the type described in further detail in the aforesaid Cox applications, Serial No. 294,427 and Serial No. 377,942, and do not constitute a part of the present invention. v

In the event that none of the tripping pins 67 have been released to release the pan bottoms, the trip lever 57 of the pan bottom in question strikes the fixed pin 65 so as to trip open the pan as it reaches such a position relative to the throat of the last chute 19, that any articles not previously released are delivered to the chute 19. The actual trip position for delivery to any chute is not directly above the throat of the chute but far enough back to allow the lemon to fall away from the trip pan system before entering the chute. The ballistic effect to be allowed for depends upon the trip pan speed, which is considerable.

In the case of citrus fruits, such as lemons, the classifications for five-way classification may be according to ripe, silver, yellow, light green and dark green lemons, with the photoelectric inspection apparatus so set as to trip the trip pan when a lemon having the reflectivity characteristics of a ripe lemon is above the chute 15; and similarly silver lemons are tripped into chute 16, yellow into the chute 17, light green into the chute 18, and the remainder constituting dark green lemons are tripped into the chute 19. It will be understood, however, that the classification described is merely illustrative and the invention is not limited to five lane classification or to the particular classification described by way of illustration.

In order to restore each of the trip pans 22 to its closed condition before it returns to a position under the viewing chamber 13, a cocking cam or sloping rail 75 is provided which extends along the arc of a circle from a position beyond the fixed trip pin 65, as illustrated in Fig. 2 and shown fragmentarily in Figs. 7 and 8. For reinforcement the cocking cam 75 is provided with a flange 76. The cam 75 has a sloping lower edge 77, sloping downward along a helix from the beginning 78 to the end 79 as shown in the fragmentary view of a development of the cocking cam 75 in Fig. 7.

The cocking arm 53has a roller 81 mounted thereon by a pin 82 projecting radially inward toward the shaft 25 so that the roller 81 is spaced radially from the wheel shaft 25 the same distance as the sloping edge 77 of the cocking cam 75. The dimensions are such that when the latch cam 51 has been tripped by retraction of the detent 58 and the cocking arm 53 is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 7, the roller 81 starts to ride against the sloping surface 77 and is forced downward to the position 83 shown in full lines in Fig. 6 on approaching the position 79 at the end of the slope 77, whereupon the detent 58 is permitted to drop over the abutment 55 and lock the latch cam 51 in the position with the pan bottom 34 closed.

The gearing included in the connections from the drive mechanism of the housing 21 to the shaft 25, the mating pan conveyor 12, and the synchronized commutators in the photoelectric inspection apparatus associated with the viewing chamber 13, includes direct drive connections for causing all the parts to operate appropriately in synchronism. The conveyor 11 may also be so driven; preferably, however, a fixed angle clutch is interposed between the drive mechanism in the housing 21 and the walking board conveyor 11 and also the intermediate gate, if desired, in order that the fixed angle clutch may be disengaged for stopping the walking board conveyor 11 (and also the intermediate gate, if desired) to enable the remainder of the apparatus to continue in operation and clear the apparatus of lemons without permitting the walking board conveyor 11 to continue supplying lemons in the event an emergency or faulty operation should take place. The fixed angle clutch, however, assures the synchronization of the walking board conveyor 11, and the intermediate gate with the remainder of the apparatus as soon as the fixed angle clutch is re-engaged.

In the arrangement illustrated there is a shaft 85, carrying a crank 86 for driving the walking board conveyor 11 and a cam 89 for operating an intermediate gate 91 (not visible in Fig. 1) through a connecting rod and cam follower linkage 92. The shaft is driven from the drive mechanism in the housing 21 through a,

chain 93 and suitable sprockets 9 4 and 95. Included in the housing 21 are shafts 96 and 97, a fixed angle clutch 98 for connecting the shafts 96 and 97, and bevel gearing 99 for driving the shaft 97 from the shaft 25 through a chain 100.

The clutch 98 may be of the claw type a fixed part 101 having claws 102, adapted to mate with an axially slidable part 103 having claws 104 interrneshing with the claws 102. There is a conventional shifting arm 105 fitting in a groove 106 in the part 103. As shown in Fig. 1 a rod 107 with a knob 108 is connected to the arm 105 for manipulating the clutch 98. I

The mechanism for driving the shaft 25 includes the motor 20, speed reducer 109, chain 111 and bevel gearing 112.

The arrangement is such that the clutch 98 may disconnect only the walking board conveyor 11 and the intermediate gate mechanism 91 and does not affect the rotation of the trip pans 14 on the shaft 25 or other mechanism driven by shafts 25 or 97, such as the mating pan conveyor 12 with receiving pans 113 carried under the intermediate gate 91 by a set of chains 114.

With the fixed angle clutch 98 engaged and all the parts driven by the driving mechanism, the articles to be sorted, such as lemons, are deposited at the input end 87 of the walking board conveyor 11 and are conveyed in a plurality of parallel rows in the walking board conveyor 11, to the intermediate gate 91 at the lower or output end 88 of the walking board conveyor 11, Where they are deposited on the receiving pans of the mating pan conveyor 12 and carried toward a position above the viewing chamber 13, and then downward to a point immediately above the viewing chamber 13, where they are released and fall through the viewing chamber 13 into whichever one of the catcher trip pans is underneath the viewing chamber 13. Each lemon as it is deposited in the trip pan is then carried horizontally with the rotation of the catcher system 14 until it is tripped over one of the chutes 15 to 19 according to the classification determined by the photoelectric inspection apparatus.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now believe to represent the best embodiment thereof, but desire to have it understood that the apparaus shown and described is only illustrative and that my invention may be carried out by other arrangements.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters. Patent of the United States is:

l. A free-fall, gravity type of photoelectric sorting machine comprising in combination a viewing chamber through which articles to be sorted may be dropped and in which they may be illuminated and inspected by photoelectric means, and a conveyor mounted below said viewing chamber for receiving articles in succession dropped therethrough, comprising a rotating wheel having a vertical axis of rotation, a plurality of pans mounted at the periphery of the wheel, the wheel axis being so spaced horizontally from the viewing chamber as to bring the pans under the viewing chamber successively as the wheel is rotated, each of said pans having a substantially quadrilateral top opening and sloping bottom portions one of which is hinged to form a drop bottom, adapted to descend for opening the pan, each of said pans having an inner wall against the wheel periphery and an outer wall with a cut-away portion, the drop bottom: having a wing conforming in shape to said cut-away portion to close the pan when the drop bottom is in a closed position, to provide an opening in the outer wall of the pan when the drop bottom is in a descended open position, to facilitate exit by centrifugal force of an article resting in the pan when the drop bottom is opened.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 in which the pan and the bottom portions are lined with a pad of polyurethane foam to absorb impact energy of articles dropped into the pan and prevent bouncing thereof.

3. A trip pan conveyor for receiving articles falling through a free-fall type of photoelectric sorting head, viewing chamber, comprising in combination a rotatable hub with a mounting rim, a plurality of trip pans each with an inner wall secured to the mounting rim, an outer wall, and front and rear walls to form a four-sided top opening into which articles may be dropped from a viewing chamber, the front and rear walls sloping toward the bottom, a hinged portion forming a drop bottom, a pivotally mounted shaft for each trip pan supporting the drop bottom on said pan, said shaft extending radially inwardly of said mounting rim, a latch cam secured to the inner end of said shaft including a projecting arm with a steep section forming an abutment and a cam surface, a pivotally mounted latch on said rim adjacent said latch cam and having a detent for cooperation with the cam surface abutment and a trip arm, trip pins mounted along a circle coaxial with said hub adapted to cooperate with said trip arm for rotating the latch to release the latch cam, resilient means for biasing the latch to the position engaging said latch cam with the drop bottom of the pan closed, and a cocking cam having a sloping surface for engaging the projecting arm of the latch cam to rotate the latch cam together with. the shaft to which it is secured carrying the drop bottom, for lifting the drop bottom and reclosing each trip pan at a predetermined point in the revolution of said hub.

4. In a rotary trip pan conveyor having a plurality of pans each with a hinged drop bottom secured to a rotatable shaft extending radially inwardly with respect to the axis of rotation of the conveyor and having a latch cam secured thereto radially inwardly of each pan, a tripping and cocking arrangement therefor located radially inwardly of each pan adjacent each latch cam comprising in combination a plurality of trip pins including retractable trip pins, a cocking arm and a locking abutment for each of the latch earns, a latch for each of said latch cams pivotally mounted including a detent for cooperation with the latch cam abutment and a trip arm for cooperation with the trip pins and having re silient means for biasing the latch with the detent engaging said latch cam abutment for holding the latch cams and the drop bottom-carrying shafts of the trip pans in closed pan position, and a cocking cam extending along a length of arc coaxial with the center of rotation of said rotary conveyor adapted to cooperate with the cocking arms of said latch cams having a helicalsegment sloping surface, whereby rotation of the conveyor, carrying the cocking arms past said cocking cam, deflects and rotates said cocking arms to close the pan bottoms carried by the shaft secured to the latch cams, and in the event of maintenance of the trip pins in the unretracted position, conveyor rotation causes the trip arms of the latches to be carried against the trip pins for deflecting the trip arms to retract the detents from the latch cams and trip open the drop bottoms of the pans.

'5. In a free-fall gravity type of sorting machine having a sorting head through which articles to be sorted may be dropped, a conveyor for mounting below the sorting head to receive articles in succession dropped therethrough comprising a rotating wheel having a vertical axis of rotation, a plurality of pans mounted at the periphery of the wheel, the wheel axis being positioned for bringing the pans under the line of descent of articles to be received from the sorting head successively as the wheel is rotated, each of said pans having a top opening and a hinged bottom portion to form a drop bottom adapted to descend for opening the pan, each of said pans having an outer side wall away from the wheel with a cutaway portion, the drop bottom having a wing conforming in shape to said cutaway portion to close the cutaway portion when the drop bottom is in closed U r i444 position, to provide an opening in the outer wall of the pan when the drop bottom is in descended open position ally, each having a top opening into which articles may be dropped from a viewing chamber, and a hinged wall adapted to descend to form a drop bottom, rotating around a hinge axis, a latch cam located radially in- 'wardly of each pan secured to each said drop bottom with a rotation axis around the hinge axis including a projecting arm and a cam surface with a section forming an abutment, a pivotally mounted latch located radially inwardly of each pan adjacent each latch cam and having a detent for cooperation with the cam surface abutment and a trip arm, trip pins including a retractable trip pin mounted on a circle coaxial with said rotatable wheel adapted to cooperate with said trip arm for rotating the latch to release the latch cam, resilient means for biasing the latch to the position engaging said latch cam with the drop bottom of the pan closed, a cocking cam having a surface for engaging the projecting arm of the latch camand progressively varying in spacing therefrom with respect to rotation around the axis of the conveyor wheel for rotating the latch cam together with the pan drop bottom as the wheel rotates to carry the pan .and latch cam arm around the axis of the conveyor for lifting the drop bottom and reclosing each trip pan at a pre-determined point in the rotation.

7. In a trip pan conveyor having a plurality of moving pans each with a hinged drop bottom rotatable around a hinge axis extending laterally across the path ofmoVement of said pans, a latch cam secured thereto beyond one corresponding side of each pan so as to be located out of the path of movement of said pans and all on one side of said path, a tripping and cooking arrangement therefor located beyond said corresponding sides of each pan adjacent said latch cams comprising in combination a plurality of trip pins including a retractable trip pin, a cocking arm and a locking abutment for each of the latch cams, a latch for each of said latch cams piv? otally mounted including a detent for cooperation with the latch cam abutment, and a trip arm for cooperation with the trip pins having means for biasing the latch with a detent engaging said latch cam abutment for hold ing the latch cam for the drop bottom of each trip pan in the closed pan position, and a cocking cam extending partially along the path of the latch cams adapted to cooperate with the cocking arms of said latch cams, having a surface varying in spacing from said cocking arms with respect to rotation'around the rotation axis whereby motion of the conveyor carrying the cocking arms past said cocking cam deflects and rotates said cocking arms to close the pan bottoms and in the event of maintenance of trip pins in the unretracted position, conveyor. motion causes the trip arms of the latches to be carried against the trip pins for deflecting the trip arms to retract the detents from the latch cams and trip open the drop bottoms of the pans.

8. A free-fall, gravity type sorting machine comprising in combination drive means, a walking-board conveyor, a viewing chamber, conveying means for carrying objects from the walking-board conveyor and delivering them to the viewing chamber, a catcher conveyor for receiving objects from the viewing chamber, said viewing chamber including a photoelectric viewing device and synchronizing mechanism driven by said drive means for delivering an article to said chamber at a pre-determined time in the cycle of operation for observance by said viewing device when it is falling through the viewing chamber, connections between the drive means and said catcher conveyor and viewing chamber delivery conveyor means for causing them to operate in synchronism with the synchronizing mechanism, and a fixed-angle clutch between the drive means and the walking-board conveyor for causing the clutch to engage only with av pre'determined relation between the drive means and the walking- ,board conveyor for synchronizing the action thereof, whereby the remainder of the apparatus may be run independently of the walking-board conveyor and the latter may be stopped before stopping the remainder 'of the apparatus, enabling the apparatus to be clearedof sorted objects in the event of emergency or faulty operation.

9. A free-fall, gravity type sorting machine comprising in combination drive means, a viewing chamber, an input conveyor for delivering articles to be dropped through a viewing chamber, a catcher conveyor for receiving objects from the viewing chamber, said viewing chamber including a photoelectric inspection device and synchronous mechanism driven by said drive means for delivering an article to said chamber at a pre-determined time in the cycle of operation for observance by said viewing device when it is falling through the viewing chamber, connections between the drivemeans and said catcher conveyor for causing it to operate in synchronism with the synchronizing mechanism, and a fixed angle clutch between the drive means and the input conveyors for causing the clutch to engage only with a-predetermined relation between the drive means and the input conveyor for synchronizing the action thereof, whereby the remainder of the apparatus may be run independently of the input conveyor or the latter may be stopped before stopping the remainder of the apparatus for enabling the apparatus to be cleared of sorted objects in the event of emergency or faulty operation.

10. A trip pan for a rotary conveyor comprising in combination a receptacle with a top opening and a sloping wall with a bottom opening at the edge thereof, inner and outer walls, the latter having a cut-away portion, and a drop bottom with an edge hinged to the edge of the first mentioned wall for closing said bottom opening and a lateral wing conforming in shape to the cut-away portion of the outer wall to close the pan when the drop bottom is in closed position, to provide an opening in the outer wall of the pan when the drop bottom is in descended open position to facilitate exit by centrifugal force of an article resting in the pan when the drop bottom is opened during conveyor rotation.

11. In a rotary trip pan conveyor having a plurality of pans mounted adjacent to each other with hinged drop bottoms secured'to rotatable shafts extending radi? ally with respect to the axis of rotation of the conveyor so that the hinged dropbottom of one pan is free to swing back against the adjacent wall of the adjacent trip pan when the drop bottom falls to open position, latch cams secured to said shafts, a tripping arrangement therefor comprising in combination a plurality of trip pins, including retractable trip pins, each of the latch cams having a locking abutment, a latch for each of said latch cams pivotally mounted including a detent for cooperation with the latch cam abutment, and a trip arm for cooperation with the trip pins, the detents being adapted to engage the latch cam abutments for holding the latch cams and the drop-bottom carrying shafts of the trip pans in closed pan position, a stop arm secured to each such shaft, and a suction cup with a metering orifice therein mounted upon each of said stop arms in such a position as to strike the said adjacent wall of the adjacent trip pan when the drop bottom is opened, whereby in the event of maintenance of the trip pins in the unretracted position, conveyor rotation causes the trip arms of the latches to be carried against the trip pins for deflecting the trip arms to retract the detents from the latch cams and trip open the drop bottoms of the pans, and the drop bottoms which are tripped open are held open upon reaching the adjacent trip pan wall for an interval of time, whereby articles released from the trip pan by the opening of'the pan bottom fall clear and the drop bottom is prevented f-rombouncing back against the released article. '12. In a trip pan conveyor having a plurality of trip pans mounted successively adjacent to one "another with hinged drop bottoms secured to rotatable shafts extending transversely to the direction of motion of the trip 'pans whereby each drop bottom is free to swing against the adjacent Wall of the adjacent trip pan when the drop bottom is opened, spring means for accelerating the opening action of the drop bottoms, tripping mechanism for normally holding the drop bottoms in closed position and releasing the drop bottoms when an article within a trip pan is to be released therefrom, and'a suction cup 'with a metering orifice therein secured to each drop bottom in such position as to strike the said adjacent trip pan wall when the drop bottom is tripped open and to hold the drop bottom open against the adjacent trip pan wall for a period of time avoiding the bouncing back of the drop bottom and permitting an article which has been released from the trip pan to fall clear without being struck by a rebounding drop bottom.

13. In a photoelectric sorting machine comprising a viewing and classifying chamber through which articles to be sorted may be dropped and in which they may be illuminated and inspected by photoelectric means, the photoelectric means being provided for producing signals indicative of the class of the article, means above said chamber for delivering and dropping articles vertically therethrough, the improvement including'a conveying and sorting system for catching and delivering said articles to different distribution stations, said system comprising: a rotatably mounted wheel located under said chamber; a plurality of pans mounted atthe periphery of said wheel; means for rotating said wheel for carrying said pans on a predetermined, circular path having a section thereof located vertically underneath said chamber; said pans each having an open top for catching said articles falling through said chamberand a pivoted bottom for dumping articles, said bottom being attached to a shaft mounted on said wheel and extending radially inwardly from each pan; a plurality of chutes having receiving portions arranged at spaced intervals on a line underneath said pans and vertically aligned with said path; and cooperating cam and latch means located radially inwardly of each pan and operatively connected to said shaft for controlling the dumping of each article falling through said chamber from one of said pans into one of said chutes, and tripping and cocking means operatively associated with said cam and latch means.

- 14. In a photoelectric sorting machine comprising a viewing and classifying chamber through which articles to be sorted may be dropped and in which they may be illuminated and inspected by photoelectric means, the photoelectric means being provided for producing signals indicative of the class of the article; means above said chamber for delivering and dropping articles vertically 12 therethrough; the improvement including a conveying and sorting system for catching and delivering said'articles to different distribution stations, said systemcomprising: a rotatably mounted wheel located under said chamber; a plurality of pans mounted at the periphery of said wheel; means for rotating said wheel for carrying said pans on a predetermined, circular path having a section thereof located ,vertically underneath said chamber; said pans having an 'open top for catching said articles falling through said chamber; a plurality of chutes having receivingportions arranged at spaced intervals on a line underneath said pans and vertically aligned with said path; said pans each having an outer wall with a cutaway portion and a bottom at least a portion of which is hinged topermit it to pivot downwardly providing a dumping means for the article therein; said hinged bottom portion having a wing conforming in shape to said cut-away portion to close the, opening formed by said cut away portion when the hinged bottom portion is closed; said opening formed by the cut-away portion when the hinged bottom portion is open facilitating the exit by centrifugal force of an article resting in the pan.

15. A trip pan conveyor for receiving articles falling through a free-fall type of photoelectric sorting head, viewing chamber, comprising in combination a rotatable hub with a trip pan mounting means, a plurality of trip pans each having a hinged drop bottom for dumping articles in said pans; a pivotally mounted shaft for each trip pan supporting the drop bottom on said pan, said shaft extending radially inwardly to the one side of said pan nearest the axis of rotation of said hub, a latch cam secured to the inner end of said shaft including a projecting arm with a steep section forming an abutment and a cam surface, a pivotally mounted latch located radially inwardly of each pan adjacent said latch cam and having a detent for cooperation with the cam surface abutment and a trip arm, trip pins mounted along a circle coaxial with said hub adapted to cooperate with said trip arm for rotating the latch to release the latch cam, resilient means for biasing the latch to the position engaging said latch cam with the drop bottom of the pan closed, and a cocking cam having a sloping surface for engaging the projecting arm of the latch card to rotate the latch cam together with the shaft to which it is secured carrying the drop bottom, for lifting the drop bottom and reclosing each trip pan at a predetermined point in the revolution of said hub.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 492,879 Stoner Mar. 7, 1893 1,626,359 Rundell .4 Apr. 26, 1927 2,194,381 Cadman Mar. 19, 1940 2,518,037 Mackechnie Aug. 8, 1950 2,589,561 Mackechnie Mar. 18, 1952 2,656,923 Cox Oct. 27, 1953 

